Hong Kong reports ‘first case of virus reinfection’

Hongkongscientistsclaim to have the first evidence of someone being reinfected with the virus that causes Covid-19.

Genetic tests revealed that a 33-year-old man returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain in mid-august had a different strain of the coronavirus than the one he’d previously been infected with in March, said Dr Kelvin Kai-wang To, the microbiologist who led the work.

The man had mild symptoms the first time and none the second time; his more recent infection was detected through screening and testing at the Hong Kong airport.

“It shows that some people do not have lifelong immunity” to the virus if they’ve already had it, To said. “We don’t know how many people can get reinfected. There are probably more out there.”